A Mississippi State football legend has passed away.
Dwight Douglas Lewis, better known as “D.D.,” died at the age of 79 on Tuesday, just one month before his 80th birthday. The former linebacker was a three-year letterman with the Bulldogs and named to the All-SEC team twice (1966 and 1967) and awarded SEC Defensive Player of the Year during his All-American campaign in 1967.
We mourn the passing of Bulldog legend D.D. Lewis.
An All-SEC standout and 1967 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, he played 13 years with the Dallas Cowboys, appeared in five Super Bowls, won two, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001. pic.twitter.com/UaEnfYjOWd
— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) September 17, 2025
Lewis was selected with the 159th overall pick in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys in 1968. He went on to play 13 seasons in the league, all with the Cowboys. Representing the Star, he appeared in five different Super Bowls and became the second Bulldog to ever win the big game after coming out victorious in 1972. He then followed it with his second ring at Super Bowl XII in 1978.
Lewis became just the second Bulldog player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame after earning the induction in 2001, joining Jackie Parker in the Hall in Atlanta. He is also a member of the Mississippi State University Ring of Honor after being inducted in 2011.
